A Quick Guide to the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket

Psst. Psst. Have you heard the news? Walt Disney World has changed its ticketing options, and we're hoppy to be offering discounts on date-based and flexible-date tickets.Read here for more details on all the changes and how to choose the right Disney ticket. Ready to save? Here are a few of the most popular options:

Congratulations — you're going to Disney World!!! Or at least it's highly likely you're going to Disney World since you're reading this post. Once you've made the decision to visit Disney World, and you've decided when to visit Disney World, it's time to get down to business and buy tickets. With recent changes to ticket names and ticket pricing, deciding which Disney ticket you need has gotten a little more complicated. Fortunately, we're here to help. (Oh, and we can help take away the ouch that comes when you open your credit card statement with our discount Disney tickets.) Today, we're looking at the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket, formerly known as the Disney Magic Your Way Ticket.

As of Oct. 16, 2018, Disney moved to date-based ticket pricing, which means you need to know when you'll be visiting before you buy tickets. (You do have the option to purchase a Flexible-Date Ticket for an additional charge.) The date-based pricing applies to all ticket types, including the Park Hopper Option and the Park Hopper Plus Option.

What Does the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket Get You?

With the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket, you are allowed to enter one Walt Disney World theme park per day. So for each day of your ticket, you can enter Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Animal Kingdom or Disney's Hollywood Studios. There is no hopping among the parks on the same day (you'll need to add the Park Hopper option for that), but you can leave the theme park on the day you enter and return to that same theme park later in the day.

Take a break from the park in the afternoon. Families with young tadpoles might need an afternoon nap and older kids will enjoy a refreshing swim in the hotel pond. Besides, the smart frogs who know that this is when the parks' crowds peak.

How Many Days Can You Get with a Disney Theme Park Base Ticket?

You have the option of purchasing 1-Day Disney Theme Park Base Tickets all the way up to 10-Day Disney Theme Park Base Tickets for your trip. You do not have to use the tickets on consecutive days. So, for example, if you're planning a 10-day vacation to Disney World, you might decide to buy the 7-Day Disney Theme Park Base Ticket. That way, you can build in a couple of days of "downtime" away from the parks and hop to Disney Springs for shopping and dining, tour the resort hotels or just relax at the pool. Keep in mind that the amount of time you have to use the ticket varies by the number of days, unless you select a Flexible-Date Ticket, which can be used within 14 days of your first date of admission into the park.

Date-BASED Tickets

Days of Admission

Valid Use Period, Beginning on Start Date

2-Day

2

Within 4 days for Base and Park Hopper (5 days for Park Hopper Plus)

3-Day

3

Within 5 days for Base and Park Hopper (6 days for Park Hopper Plus)

4-Day

4

Within 7 days for Base and Park Hopper (8 days for Park Hopper Plus)

5-Day

5

Within 8 days for Base and Park Hopper (9 days for Park Hopper Plus)

6-Day

6

Within 9 days for Base and Park Hopper (10 days for Park Hopper Plus)

7-Day

7

Within 10 days for Base and Park Hopper (11 days for Park Hopper Plus)

8-Day

8

Within 12 days for Base and Park Hopper (13 days for Park Hopper Plus)

9-Day

9

Within 13 days for Base and Park Hopper (14 days for Park Hopper Plus)

10-Day

10

Within 14 days for Base and Park Hopper (15 days for Park Hopper Plus)

The More Days You Play, the More Days You Save with Disney Theme Park Tickets

Regardless if you do the base Disney Theme Park Base Ticket or add-on options, the more days you visit, the more you will save per day. For example, at the time of this writing, we're selling an adult 10-Day Disney Theme Park Base Ticket for $437.86* ($49 off gate price). That breaks down to a little more than $43 a day. By comparison, an adult 1-Day Disney Theme Park Base Ticket is $118.41*. You don't need to be a math whiz to figure out there is a sweet spot for savings!

Is the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket Right for Me?

As we mentioned, the base Disney Theme Park Base Tickets are the least expensive option. Perhaps surprisingly, though, we think they are the best ticket option for most families making a first-time visit to Disney World. This is because there is a ton to see in each of the parks. At Magic Kingdom alone, you could easily spend two entire days and not experience all it has to offer. Most first-time families want to see and do as much as they possibly can in each park before moving onto the next. They're less concerned about experiencing the water parks or even the excellent on-site hotel amenities, because they want to spend as much time as they can in the parks.

A Disney Theme Park Base Ticket is a good choice if ...

You have young children:One park per day is usually plenty for small children. If you leave and come back to the same park, they usually enjoy the familiarity of it more than starting over at a different park.

It’s your first time:If it’s your first visit, you’ll have enough to do staying in one park the entire day without the added stress of visiting a second park.

You are incorporating other activities into your vacation: If you have activities planned such as shopping at Disney Springs or dinner reservations at a Disney hotel, one park per day might be enough. (May we recommend Victoria & Albert's for a fancy dinner date without tadpoles?)

You want to save the most money possible: If it's strictly a financial decision, go with the base Disney Theme Park Tickets.

You are visiting during the busy holiday season:Navigating between parks during the very busiest days of the year eats up a lot of valuable time. It may only happen a day or two a year, but if a park reaches capacity and you leave that park, you will not be able to re-enter.

So there you have it! We hope this overview of the Disney Theme Park Base Ticket (formerly known as Disney Magic Your Way) has been hopful as you plan your trip. We've got a ton of other resources in our Orlando planning guide. Short on time? Download our Disney World Quick-Start Guide.

Comments

I am looking at purchasing 5 base tickets vs 4 tickets with PH option because its significantly cheaper that way and if I am understanding correctly if I chose to bounce between 2 parks during my 4 night trip it will just take that '5th' day I basically purchased right? Am I missing something here?

Unfortunately, with the way that the ticketing system works, if you've only got base tickets, you'll only be permitted to enter one park each day (even if you have more days left on your ticket). Upon scanning your ticket at the second park on the 4th day, you'll get an error at the gate. We'd recommend visiting Guest Relations instead and inquiring about upgrading to a Park Hopper for day 4 in place of your 5th day to see what your options are.

I want to see whats best for me to buy we have 3 adults 2 kids and want to go to magic kingdom one day animal kingdom one day and water park one day. NOT hopping around just one thing per day 3 days. 4/8, 4/9, 4/10

I’m looking at buying 5 day base tickets for my family, but I want to make sure we can still get them on magic bands. Since the bands are not included here, will we get bands with out Disney resort reservation or will we have to purchase a band somehow separately? I would like to have the tickets preloaded onto our bands before we go like they would if we bought the whole package straight from Disney. We are totally new to this and appreciate he help!

Yes, you will get your Magic Bands with your Disney resort reservation. They'll be mailed to you about a month prior to your trip. You can link both the tickets (from us!) and your hotel reservation on your Magic Band in MyDisneyExperience, in the app or online. Check out all of your ticket options ... linking is easy :)

I am planning our trip for my parents, 2 nieces (aged 3 and 5), my husband and myself. Can we purchase the base tickets and once we get down to Disney, upgrade to the Park Hopper if we find ourselves wanting it? We aren't sure how this is going to go with the littles, but would like to have the option to upgrade should we need to.

As long as you purchased tickets prior to the change in pricing/structure, you are free to use them as you previously would have. Just check out the ticket details and expiration date ... even if expired, you can exchange for valid tickets at the park (you may just have to pay the difference, if any!)

How do I purchase our 3-day Disney Magic Your Way tickets? Can we go to the same park two different days? I have found the planning process for this trip to be stressful. It is very confusing with all the options.

If I bought a 10 day Magic your way tickets, can I divide those among 3 people or must the same person use all 10 days? Also, can 2 myw tickets be used in one day? For example, half day spent at HS and the other half at Epcot using 2 tickets total.